Friend of murdered woman laments: ‘She told me things, I should have done more’

BEHIND the manicured lawns of Brisbane’s western suburbs, the locals can’t stop talking.

It’s an irresistible topic, murder. But it usually happens somewhere else, to people not from around here.

The former Miss Queensland beauty queen Allison Baden-Clay appeared to live the charmed life – her husband, Gerard, was a successful and well-known real estate agent. Their three young daughters were flourishing at good schools. Their home was in Brookfield, an upmarket, desirable suburb.

So what led to Mrs Baden-Clay’s body being found in a secluded bush creek?

Police are confident they are well on the way to finding out. Officers have refused to rule out anyone as a suspect.

Gerard Baden-Clay hasn’t said much since his wife vanished on Thursday, April 19.

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Sprung by a TV crew about a week after she disappeared, before her body was found, he was a bundle of hand-wringing nerves, tears not quite visible.

”I’m trying to look after my children at the moment, I’ve got three young girls, and we really trust that the police are doing everything they can to find my wife and we just hope that she will come home soon,” he said with his sister, Olivia, at his side. ”I’ve spoken to the police about everything and I have had no contact from her at all … I’ve tried to help the police as much as I can, we all have, with everything we’ve got.”

He has apparently told detectives his wife went for a walk about 10pm that night, and he reported her missing when she hadn’t returned by 7.30am.

Her body was found under a bridge on Kholo Creek, Anstead, about 10 kilometres away, on the 11th day of the police search.

While detectives are publicly keeping their options open about a suspect, as one of her closest loved ones, Mr Baden-Clay is automatically under scrutiny.

Their home, his belongings and his workplace – a Century 21 real estate franchise – have been raided. Police have taken a laptop, computer equipment, a hard drive, and other boxes and bags of evidence.

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A woman who worked alongside the Baden-Clays at the agency has also been interviewed extensively, although why this particular colleague has been questioned is unclear.

Mrs Baden-Clay’s grief-stricken parents, Geoff and Priscilla Dickie, hinted at the underlying discontent in their daughter’s life in an interview with a Brisbane newspaper. Mrs Dickie said her daughter wasn’t the type to complain.

”She was probably so proud,” she said. ”She had all the stresses and strains of a 43-year-old mother of three.”

Her best friend, Kerry-Anne Walker, told the newspaper Mrs Baden-Clay ”wouldn’t have wanted anybody to think she failed at anything”. ”She wanted that appearance that things were good. She always looked good, whether she felt bad on the inside, she always looked good,” she said.

”She told me things and I should have done more.”

Mr Dickie said his son-in-law had phoned that fateful Friday morning with the news.

”He [Gerard Baden-Clay] just said she went for a walk and she didn’t return – that’s all he said,” Mr Dickie said.

”If she was going for a walk in the morning, she’d have walked on the side of the road around Brookfield. She wouldn’t have ventured into the middle of the bush somewhere.”

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